sometimes
when all the trees and leaves
have died and fallen
eventually
when ice age winter
has come to stay
those long snowy days
being cold and endless
when the paper sun
can't give us warmth
and the cardboard moon
becomes unglued and distant
everything
seems frosty and frigid
frozen in hoary time
all that icicle love
all those glacial dreams
so many permafrost scenes
marking both bitter day and night
if Jupiter would scream
if Venus could simply speak
all that hard concrete
cementing over
our conglomerate lives
might erode away
revealing hidden doors
allowing us
to see the light
even mend
our broken lives and hearts
when we wake again
opening our encrusted eyes
alluvial reality sets in
that's when we discover
this world is a gravelly place
no matter how much we grovel
no matter how often
we fail and stumble
hopes and tears
can't fix us
it's only death
coming to whisk us away
when we finally realize
being born isn't always
a heavenly golden gift
even if we manage to cauterize
old festering wounds
try to staple a smile
on our material face
all that awaits this fabled planet
is some dark and foreboding
disabled space

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